The Cinematologists Podcast

The Trial (with writer Josh Karp)

Our first screening of 2016 is Orson Welles's at times overlooked classic, The Trial. Adapted from Franz Kafka’s dark novel about alienation, bureaucracy, and the fundamental question of freewill. The Trial stars Anthony Perkins in a role every bit as compelling as his star turn in Psycho and features Welles’s trademark kinetic cinematography which perfectly captures the terror of faceless institutional authority. Read Richard Brody's New Yorker article on The Trial here.This was our first screening at the wonderful Electric Palace Cinema in Hastings.The episode features an interview with Josh Karp who recently published an exquisite book on the crazy saga of Welles's final, incomplete film, The Other Side Of The Wind. Find information on the book here.Read a review from RogerEbert.com here.

Interview with Dr. Catherine Grant

In a special bonus episode Dario talks to Dr. Catherine Grant, Senior Lecturer in Film Studies at the University of Sussex and founder of the Film Studies For Free online archive. The conversation covers a wide range of areas including Catherine's route in film academia, the current status of film and film studies particularly in the digital context, the Internet & open source publishing, teaching, research and the challenges of higher education for the arts and humanities, video essays, blogging & podcasting, feminism in film and academia, and discourses of free speech and political correctness.Link's to Catherine's Websites: Film Studies for Free; InTransition: Journal of Videographic and Film and Moving image Studies; ReframeJason Mittell - Complex TelevisionCatherines's introduction to Laura Mulvey and Possibilities for the DigitalBordwell and Thompson: Observations on Film ArtGirish Shambu: Film BlogKevin Lee: Shooting Down PicturesCatherine's video essay using Laura Mark's notion of Haptic CriticismPatricia White: Women's Cinema, World CinemaSophie Myers: Political AnimalRichard Dyer: Sissy RepresentationsBrett Easton Ellis Podcast: with Quintin Tarantino

In the Mood for Love

In one of the highlights of the year The Cinematologists screen Wong Kar-Wai's stylish masterpiece as part of the BFI 'love' season in association with The Poly, Falmouth. A veritable modern masterpiece In the Mood for Love stars Tony Leung and Maggie Cheung in iconic roles as lovers seeking refuge from disappointment, loneliness and the harsh realities of their surroundings. Dario and Neil also discuss their cinematic highlights of the year.The Guardian article by Peter Walker referred to in the podcast can be found here: http://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2011/dec/19/in-the-mood-for-love 

The Hitch-Hiker (with writer Jack Thorne)

Dario and Neil discuss Ida Lupino's 1953 film noir The Hitch-Hiker. Neil also interviews writer Jack Thorne about, amongst other things, his up-coming theatre adaptation of Harry Potter.Link to the Film Programme episode discussed in the episodeLink to the Senses of Cinema Ida Lupino piece mentioned by Kingsley in the episode

Seconds (with journalist Andy Bass)

In our first podcast from the University of Brighton's Hastings campus we screen the strangely superb sci-fi thriller Seconds (1966). John Frankenheimer's key themes revolve around paranoia and conspiracy with titles to his credit including The Manchurian Candidate (1962) and Seven Days in May (1964). This film takes a faustian theme and links it to social contexts of mistrust in government, consumerism and the increasing loss of identity in the modern age.The episode also features an interview with writer and historian Andy Bass who has recently written an article on the shooting of the film in his home town of Scarsdale:http://scarsdalenews.com/Scarsdale_Inquirer/8-21-15_NEWS__Rock_Hudson.html  

Planes, Trains and Automobiles (with filmmaker Jeanie Finlay)

Neil is joined on stage at Falmouth by Kingsley Marshall to introduce John Hughes' comedy Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987). The influence and persona of John Candy and Steve Martin is discussed along with the career of John Hughes as one the quintessential American 80s directors. The podcast also features an interview with Jeanie Finlay on her surprising and offbeat musical documentary Orion: The Man Who Would Be King (2015).

Tony Manero (with Prof. Will Brooker)

Our intense desire for, and identification, with film characters and stars comes under the spotlight in this weeks' podcast. Neil is joined by filmmaker James Dean to introduce Pablo Larraín's unique and brutal Tony Manero (2008) about Chilean criminal who is obsessed with John Travolta's character from Saturday Night Fever. It is simultaneously bleak, shocking and unsettling with allusions to the darkest parts of human identity. Also on the podcast Dario interviews Professor Will Brooker from Kingston University about the year he is spending embodying the iconic David Bowie.